Self-Sacrifice Read online

  By the end of the day, the picture became clearer. Under the command of General Ali Gheidan,1 commander of Iraqi ground forces, the three Iraqi battalions moved into Ashraf as dawn broke. They used tear-gas and smoke and stun grenades. The Ashrafis, who had been expecting an attack after witnessing the build-up of military forces over the past three days, immediately formed a human chain to try to prevent the army from moving further into the camp. The soldiers opened fire and snipers were deployed to shoot dead any residents who were trying to film the attack on their mobile phones. Humvees and armoured personnel vehicles were driven at high speed into crowds of Ashrafis, crushing them under the wheels. By evening, 28 Ashrafis were dead.

  There had been a small US Force-Iraq (USF-I) observers’ team stationed at Ashraf for weeks. This unit, under the command of Lt. Col. Robert Molinari, was based inside Ashraf and was fully aware of the Iraqi government’s intentions to attack the camp. But despite pleas by the residents to stay, on 7 April, at 10 p.m., seven hours before the attack, his unit mysteriously disappeared. If they had stayed, the Iraqi forces would never have dared to attack. It emerged later, that in anticipation of a violent Iraqi assault on the camp, the USF-I soldiers had been told to leave the area so that they would not witness defenceless people being killed while they were under strict orders not to intervene. Nevertheless, the Americans reappeared on 10 April, following the massacre, and transferred ten of the residents who had the most life-threatening injuries to a nearby USF-I military hospital.

  As the horrifying photos and videos of the massacre poured into my email account, I was stunned. We had warned repeatedly that another massacre was imminent and no one had listened. Now 34 unarmed civilians were dead, either gunned down or crushed by military vehicles. Eight of the dead were women, young teachers and artists with their lives ahead of them. Now I was staring at photos of their glazed eyes and blood-spattered heads and chests torn open by bullets, fired by soldiers from the 9th Infantry Division and 5th Armoured Division of the Iraqi military, sent to the camp under the direct orders of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. For two years, I and other prominent politicians had warned that a massacre would take place. I had twice gone to Washington DC, most recently in March 2011, for meetings in the State Department, Congress and the Senate, to warn that unless Hillary Clinton made a public statement on the issue, blood would certainly be shed. I was ignored.

  In repeated debates, conferences, hearings, letters and newspaper articles, I warned what was sure to happen. I wrote to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Baroness Ashton, pleading with her to intervene. In a debate in Strasbourg I called upon her to warn the Iraqi government not to resort to violence over Ashraf. She replied that there were ‘differences of opinion’ over the issue. It took the death of another 34 unarmed civilians to force her to make a public statement condemning the attack. Too little, too late! Her complacency and that of other world leaders like Secretary of State Clinton had simply given the green light to Nouri al-Maliki to go ahead with his murderous attack.

  The EU makes a great song and dance about its wonderful ‘European values’. We pride ourselves on upholding human rights and standing up for the oppressed against bullies and aggressors. On 8 April, at 4.45 a.m. in Camp Ashraf, the hollowness of such claims was bloodily exposed. It seems that the EU had little more to contribute than hot air, and in the case of Ashraf, was not even prepared to offer that.

  2,500 heavily armed troops and over 40 armoured vehicles, including tracked machines with mounted cannon like small tanks, invaded Ashraf and opened fire on the 3,400 refugees, gunning them down like rabbits in a field. Over 300 residents of the camp had been seriously injured, and the Iraqi authorities were preventing them from accessing proper medical treatment.

  I watched horrifying films of the massacre posted on YouTube by residents of the camp. It was plain to see the refugees were fleeing for their lives as armoured cars accelerated across the camp, swerving left and right to mow them down, against a background of gunfire and explosions. This was a calculated and deliberate massacre and a gross violation of human rights. The reaction by the Iraqi government added insult to injury, and fuelled my anger at this crime against humanity. At first they claimed that no one in Ashraf had been killed and that their troops had been firing blanks. However, as pictures of the horror began to leak out across the internet, their story changed. Soon they claimed their 2,500 troops and 40 armoured vehicles had been violently attacked by a stone-throwing mob, and that they had been forced to repel this unprovoked assault. The odious Foreign Minister from neighbouring Iran even congratulated al-Maliki on a job well done, revealing clearly who was the real driving force behind the massacre.

  The Iraqi Government denied Tahar Boumedra permission to go to Ashraf until 13 April, the normal weekly UNAMI visiting day; a UNAMI team and some senior officers accompanied him from USFI. He went straight to the hospital in Ashraf, where the Iraqi doctor assured him that only three people had been killed. He noted that the hospital was empty, despite the fact that he had been told that over 300 people had been seriously injured during the massacre. The representatives of the camp’s residents took Boumedra and his team to a makeshift clinic, where they found all of the casualties crammed into every available space, while one of the PMOI doctors tried to care for them. Many had shrapnel and bullet wounds. Others had suffered massive trauma from being crushed under vehicles.

  Outside the clinic a crowd of Ashrafis had gathered, holding pictures of their murdered friends and relatives. A 14-year-old girl told Boumedra how her sister had been one of the victims. ‘She was pleading for UNAMI’s help and asking why no-one had come to their aid,’ Boumedra said later. Boumedra’s team was now split into two, with one half going to do the body count and take photos of the deceased, while Boumedra and two other UNAMI officials went to speak to the survivors. They were told that, just as in the first massacre at Ashraf, many of the military personnel involved could be heard to speak to each other and shout insults at the Ashrafis in Farsi. It was also clear that trained Iranian snipers had taken part in the assault, as single gunshot wounds to the head or heart had killed many of the dead.

  It was evident that the lack of any meaningful criticism of Maliki following the first Ashraf massacre in July 2009 had emboldened him to strike again, underscoring his threat to use ‘all possible means’ to empty the camp by the end of 2011. Tahar Boumedra demanded an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Maliki’s Chief of Staff, Dr Hamid K. Ahmed, and those in charge of the Ashraf file. They met the same day in Maliki’s office. Dr Ahmed was accompanied by National Security Advisor Faleh al-Fayadh, Political Advisor to the PM, George Y. Bakoos and Security Officers Haqqi and Sadiq Mohammad Kazim. Despina Saraliotou from UNAMI and Ambassador Lawrence Butler, Foreign Policy Advisor to the Commander of USF-I, accompanied Boumedra.

  Dr Ahmed chaired the meeting and opened by praising the ongoing cooperation between UNAMI and the Iraqi Government. Ludicrously, he emphasised the Iraqi government’s commitment to upholding the highest standards of human rights in Camp Ashraf, while urging all possible haste to move the residents to a new location to enable the camp to be vacated by the end of the year. He made no mention whatsoever of the 8th of April massacre. No-one of the Iraqi side mentioned it.

  Boumedra gave them a minute-by-minute account of his visit to the camp the previous day, enumerating the number of dead and injured they had found. He said the Iraqi side all stared at their notebooks, refusing to make eye contact and shuffling in obvious embarrassment. Incredibly, the National Security Advisor Faleh al-Fayadh then tried to deny that the attack had taken place at all, until Boumedra confronted them with pictures of the dead. Boumedra demanded an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the case and hold those responsible to account. Ambassador Butler supported him. Faleh al-Fayadh looked increasingly irritated, according to Boumedra, and angrily stated ‘No-one will dictate to us how to do an inquiry.’

  The international response to
this premeditated extra-judicial killing was consistent with what had occurred following the first Ashraf massacre in 2009. Instead of issuing a withering condemnation and demanding an independent inquiry under UN supervision, UNAMI eventually issued a statement noting ‘the initiative of the Government of Iraq to establish a commission of inquiry’. Riled by this limp-wristed response, Boumedra bypassed normal procedures and sent his damning report directly to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, in Geneva. Pillay did issue a strongly worded criticism of the Iraqi military’s involvement in the massacre and called for a full, independent and transparent inquiry, with the prosecution of anyone found responsible for the use of excessive force. However, as usual, the UN failed to follow up on either the UNAMI or UNHCR statements, determined, as always, to follow their policy of appeasement rather than rock the Iraqi boat and sour relations with the murderous Maliki government. The then-US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, John Kerry, described the raid as a ‘massacre’, calling for a thorough independent investigation, and emphasizing that the Iraqis must refrain from any further military actions against Camp Ashraf. Ironically, but perhaps unsurprisingly, when Kerry became US Secretary of State he completely forgot about his stern warning!

  It is difficult not to condemn utterly America’s betrayal of the Ashraf residents from start to finish. In fact it is interesting that the April 2011 and July 2009 attacks against Ashraf both occurred when the US Secretary of Defence, Robert Gates, was in Baghdad. In fact both attacks happened only hours after he met with Nouri al-Maliki, suggesting that the attacks could almost have had Washington’s blessing!

  1. Gheidan was commander of the ground forces and was later responsible for crushing the Sunnis’ peaceful rallies. During the ISIS attack on Mosul, he disgracefully ran away and was later dismissed for his cowardice.

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  Interviews with Political Prisoners in Tirana, Albania, August 2014

  Fatimeh Nabavi Chashmi

  ‘My name is Fatimeh Nabavi; I am 45 years old and a member of the PMOI. I was born into a religious family and my father is a cleric. During the 1980s, many of my friends and relatives were arrested and imprisoned for being supporters of the PMOI. Two of my relatives by the names of Hojat Emadi and Emad Nabavi were executed. When Hojat Emadi was executed they did not even inform his family of his execution. When Hojat’s father was about to go to visit him in prison, the guards came to their home and brought Hojat’s bloodstained shoes to his family and claimed that they had executed him and there was no longer any need for them to go to the prison to visit their son. Needless to say this was extremely shocking to Hojat’s Mum and Dad, causing them to have nervous breakdowns.

  In 1988, because of my support for the PMOI and opposition to Khomeini’s regime, I was being pursued by the regime, so I was forced to leave my country and I later went to Ashraf. After the regime realised that I had fled the country, they put my family under immense pressure and surveillance. My family lived under constant fear of arrest and execution. My Mum had several nervous breakdowns. Having committed no crimes or broken any laws, in an attempt to exert pressure on my family, during the 1990s the regime forced two of my brothers out of the city and to exile. This was one of the tactics of the regime to try to make life miserable for PMOI families. My brothers spent many years away from their families.

  Following the US invasion and the creation of a provisional government by the coalition forces in Iraq, the road to Iraq was opened. During that time many PMOI supporters travelled to Iraq to join the PMOI in Ashraf. In 2005 my brother went to Iraq and joined the PMOI. When he got to Camp Ashraf he told me that many young people would like to come to Ashraf. After a while my Mum and Dad along with my three brothers and sisters came to Ashraf to see me. They were amazed about the security of the camp. When my family was getting ready to go back to Iran, my brother Javad said that he would not return with the rest of the family and would instead stay in Ashraf to join the struggle against the regime. He is now in Camp Liberty.

  At that time another relative of mine, by the name of Mojtaba Nabavi Chashmi, who had also come to visit Ashraf, decided that he did not want to go back to Iran and requested to join the PMOI in their struggle to bring freedom for the Iranian people. He is also now in Camp Liberty; Mojtaba was followed by Ammar and Marzieh and later by Assadollah, Saeed and Hadi, who were all part of my extended family. They all came to Ashraf and then requested to remain there. After a while Emmad, Vahideh, Maryam and Maryeh also came to Ashraf. This happened at a time when the regime wasn’t paying much attention to people coming to Ashraf to join the Mojahedin. When they realised that the young people were coming and joining the PMOI in Ashraf, they started to put inhumane pressure on our families. They started with arresting my Mum, Dad, sisters and brothers. They took my 80-year-old father, who had not committed any crime, to prison and intimidated him in every possible way. They asked him why he had gone to Ashraf, and informed him that going to Ashraf to visit the Mojahedin was considered a crime. His interrogators told my father that he was not qualified to wear a clerical robe and from that point on he was not able to function as a cleric or go to the mosque and lead people in prayers. They also ordered him to stop supporting the PMOI. Their intention was to break my father but my father resisted their pressure. He said, ‘I have no need for the clergy’s robe,’ and went back to Shahmirzad, the village where he had lived for years and was loved by all the inhabitants of the village. The people of Shahmirzad later asked him to become their prayer leader. The regime’s agents kept on pressuring him to try to have him condemn the PMOI and stop his support, but my father never surrendered.

  In prison his interrogator had told him, “You have become like a thorn in our side.” After my father, they arrested and tortured my brothers. Two years ago I heard the news of my brother’s arrest from Simaye Azadi television. Both my brothers were sent to prison in another province and not even allowed a visit by their wives and kids. My sister-in-law had just given birth, but they would not allow my brother to see his newborn baby. They kept on exerting this kind of pressure to break our family.

  Maliki had promised Khamenei to increase the pressure on the PMOI. In keeping his promise he besieged Ashraf, and on 28 and 29 July 2009 launched a military attack on the camp. As it has been seen through the documented videos available, Maliki’s forces attacked the Mojahedin using live bullets, axes, Humvees, high-pressure water cannons and bulldozers. The Mojahedin resisted empty-handed. My brother Mohammad Kazem, who was one of the singers in a traditional music group in Ashraf, had both his hands broken as a result of being hit with an axe. Both his hands were in plaster for three months and his comrades had to help him to accomplish his personal chores. He was not even able to lift a cup of water or brush his teeth.

  In another attack, on 8 April 2011, my second brother Mohammad Javad was shot in the leg. On the same day my niece Maryam was also shot in the leg, and for months and because of the siege on Ashraf, the Iraqi government would not allow her to leave Ashraf to go to the hospital and to have the bullet removed. After several months the doctors in Ashraf managed to remove the bullet from her leg. She suffered severe pain for several months because of the inhumane medical siege imposed on Ashraf. The epic heroism displayed by the residents during the massacres of 28 and 29 July and 8 April did not cease on those days, but it has continued in the resistance of the survivors to this day, in the hope that one day we will get the answer to all our pain and suffering through the freedom of our people.

  A few years ago I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. During the past few years of the medical siege on Ashraf and the inhumane psychological warfare waged on us, my illness has been getting worse on a daily basis. The medical siege added to the hardship we endured. My doctor used to tell me that, with your illness you have to sit in a place where there is a lot of shade and greenery, but I was instead forced into a place where there was no sign of any greenery or shade. I kept asking myself, what is
our protected persons’ status for? What happened when the Americans took our arms and promised us protection in return? Why did they lie to us?

  Albania agreed to accept a number of the residents, and I was one of those people put on the list to go to Albania. In 2013, despite the fact I really wanted to stay with the rest of my friends, I was transferred to Albania. Through the insistence of my friends I was taken to hospital, where I started my treatment. My doctor informed me that I was suffering from epilepsy as well and my nervous system has been compromised. After a year of treatment and support from my friends, my condition has somewhat stabilised.

  I also have a 26-year-old son who lives in the United States and who has got his Masters degree in Business Administration. Because of the siege placed on Ashraf and Liberty, he could not come and visit me when I was there. When I was transferred to Albania he came to see me. We were so happy to see each other after years of separation. My son told me that he was looking forward to seeing his father, but the inaction of international organisations with respect to Ashraf had led to a catastrophe, leaving him with the pain of not being able to see his father ever again, as he learned that he was one of the 52 killed during the 1 September 2013 massacre in Ashraf.’

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  Baghdad